Could too much sugar ingestion eventually result in diabetes?

[Monk]

Gatekeeper said something about carbs on the Dr. Atkins thread that made me somewhat concerned. I have no family history of diabetes and I'm not overweight, but because I've had disgusting amounts of Coca-Cola in my life and still live on rice and spaghetti, I'm getting a bit concerned over here and so I need your comforting advice.

I think someone once told me carbohydrates were more like a blessing than a curse, but I guess there are two sides to the coin? I did some checking up through Google but my studies were inconclusive - does that mean the answer isn't agreed upon by everybody?

[Dauphin]

Smoking is more likely to give you diabetes IIRC.

[Monk]

I used to smoke ten cigarettes a day, too. I wonder if I'll be able to get any sleep tonight.

[flash9286]

type one diabetes, doesnt result from sugar ingestion. Type two can be caused by it.

[Japher]

AFAIK Messing with your blood sugar level should not lead to diabetes. However, if you suddenly stop your hightened sugar intake you could feel like it; i.e. headaches, nausia, hypoglycemic, etc...

Atkins:
The thing with the Atkins diet is that you are required to cut out most of your carbs. I am not too sure on the ill effects of this (though my wife has told me several times) but has to do with your body burning a different type of sugar than it normally would if you had those given by carbs. What I gather is that once you have burned through the sugar/protein/whatever that is given to you by carbs then it begins to attack the fat. Lowering your carb intake is a good way to reduce the amount of fat you have, but this can also begin eating away your muscle. So, if you excercise regularly you really should take in more carbs than Atkins tells you to. This has something to do with Arobic vs. Anarobic reactions; if you don't have the right level of carbs you could burn the wrong thing in the wrong way and possibly poison yourself!!!

[Dauphin]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/diabetes/about_causes.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/diabetes/prevention_who.shtml

[Dinner]

Isn't Adult on set diabetes caused by blood sugar levels being elevated for a long period of time? If that is so eatting the wrong diet could contribute to becoming diabetic.

[Jac de Molay]

I think that's for Type 2, which is more influenced by lifestyle factors, along with some genetic or metabolic defects.

I'd say if you have a family history of it or are overweight, I would be concerned, though that, in and of itself, doesn't mean you cant get it.

[Monk]

Thank you, crunchy dude!

[Dis]

according to web md it does not

I'm not sure if I believe that. I used to drink a lot of soda. now I don't drink any. But I stopped drinking for other reasons.

[Ted Striker]

Monk,

One thing you can do that would help is to switch your carbs to whole grains.

Try to avoid spaghetti made from bleached flour. Rice is the easiest to subsitute because you can use Basmati brown rice which tastes very good but doesn't jack around your blood sugar the way white rice does. White rice sucks in general.

Carbs are fine but try and eat whole grain carbs whenever possible.

Insane amounts of Coke intake is just not healthy at all. Cut back as much of that as you can.

But really if there is ONE thing to avoid, it's hydrogenated oil. I think you Eurocoms don't eat as much processed food as Americans so that shouldn't be as much of a problem.

[RedFred]

My own bit of advice is to find yourself a good hypoglycemic index. It'll measure how fast your body can convert the food into sugar. Not at all what I expected when I first saw a decent one. Cream of wheat is way higher than a chocolate bar for example.

[Gatekeeper]

Ever since my diagnosis back in November 2002, I've come to view it as any other thing: If you abuse it (or don't take care of it), you will damage it or lose it. In this case, it's a mix of genetic factors and lifestyle that I think led to my T2 diabetes (which is kept in check now with daily exercise and prudent eating habits).

One of the easiest things to do to ease the burden on your pancreas (in which the beta cells produce your insulin) is to get off of normal soda. Seriously. Switch to water or diet soda (and, no, Nutrasweet/Splenda will not give you cancer). Drinking a lot of juice isn't the way to go, either, since it, too, is chock-full of carbohydrates. I find that Diet Nestea is a good alternative to diet soda.

Eating aside, the best way to avoid or control T2 diabetes is with regular exercise. Combine that with prudent eating habits and/or oral medicines, and you should never really have to worry about the complications of wild diabetes — i.e., damage to your eyesight, limb amputation, kidney problems, heart disease and so on. It's folks who *don't* control diabetes most of the time who generally end up in hot water years down the road when their bodies can no longer take the wear and tear that wild diabetes does.

I'm not a saint, BTW. I eat out three times a week or so (sometimes four) at two good restaurants in the area. But I plan for that and make sure to get physical activity afterwards (or, if I'm back at work, use my brain ... you'd be surprised at how many calories the mind burns when it's being employed).

Not to scare anybody here, but T2 diabetes is only an impediment is *you* allow it to get to that point. And since T2 diabetes is such an individualistic condition — i.e., it doesn't affect everyone uniformly ... some are more or less severely affected by it — a lot of its control comes down to *you* and your willpower. (Plus, it helps to reorganize your life so food isn't at the center of it all the time.)

Gatekeeper

[Berzerker]

As I understand it, ingesting too much sugar reduces the life span of the pancreas by constantly calling upon it to release insulin to counter the influxes of sugar.

[Dis]

I have never heard of pancreas' giving out. the heart is the limiting factor in many humans.